L'Article

So, for this week's Voice article, I was told to write on the dating scene in Vancouver in 400 words or less...surprisingly, I was able to keep to that number... haha. I don't know if it's any good (it feels a little all over the place...) or if it'll be considered fluffy or silly but ah well. Here you go...

Someone once told me that Vancouver was like a bowl of granola – if people aren’t fruits or nuts, they’re flakes. I like the metaphor of Vancouver being like a pie or a pastry. Flaky at first glace but once you get through, there’s a little more substance. It seems that people out here are spending so much time convincing others and themselves that they are the West Coast embodiment of oh-so-casual and laissez-faire, it takes a little more work to get to know the real person underneath without them running for the door screaming in fear of commitment.

Sitting here typing on my laptop, I’m trying not to sound like a version of Carrie Bradshaw from Sex in the City but it’s hard not to remember and use many a conversation with friends about dating. At this point in our lives, it is a very popular topic.

Trying to demystify the world of relationships is a very fascinating, if frustrating, endeavour. Dating in general, dealing with the confusion of feelings, he said/she said, why men/women think the way they do, how to play the Game – the list goes on, and on, and on.

Sometimes it feels that you’ve covered just about everything, talked yourself in circles, yet there is always more to say. More What Ifs…, more Maybe It’s… Everyone is different and that’s what makes them so interesting and so infuriating.

The most interesting thing that I’ve run into lately is this idea of ‘the Game.’ Acting casual is the best way to go about getting a partner. Be assertive but also play hard to get. You get a text, a phone message, an email from someone you’re interested in. Well, wait a bit and let the person sweat. If you’re too interested, if you answer too quickly, you give away the Power. You give away control of the Game. Don’t be too eager because they’ll lose interest because you’re too easy, there’s not enough mystery. It all makes my head spin. Trying to figure out what to say, when to say it, whether it sounded silly, too eager, too aloof is exhausting to say the least. Talk to people who are already married or already in fully committed relationships and they all sigh and thank god they don’t have to deal with that sort of thing.

Whatever happened to being simple and straightforward and telling people how you feel? If they feel the same way, they should be mature enough to be able to reciprocate your feelings. If not, well, who wants to date a manchild anyway?

 -30-

In other news, hiked the Grind yesterday... it was wet, it was cold, and it was AMAZING. My first real workout other than the slogfest that was the Cambie/Granville loop Mitchell dragged me around on Friday night... ugh. That was more than a little embarrassing. But anyway, the Grind was pretty fun. We didn't realize that they closed the gates at 4 when we got there at 4:45ish so we had to sneak our way through the BCMC trail. It definitely got dark by the time we got to the top. Chilly though. Good thing I'd brought my big bag with, according to Cedric, everything under the sun, which included a change of clothes. 

The Starbucks at the bottom of the mountain is the most cozy and inviting-looking place as you shiver your way off the tram. 

 Picture du jour: 

Quote du jour: 

"All truth, in the long run, is only common sense clarified." - Thomas Huxley 

Random sniped poetry...

Lines

Martha Collins

Draw a line. Write a line. There.
Stay in line, hold the line, a glance
between the lines is fine but don't
turn corners, cross, cut in, go over
or out, between two points of no
return's a line of flight, between
two points of view's a line of vision.
But a line of thought is rarely
straight, an open line's no party
line, however fine your point.
A line of fire communicates, but drop
your weapons and drop your line,
consider the shortest distance from x
to y, let x be me, let y be you.

“Do You Have Any Advice For Those of Us Just Starting Out?"

Ron Koertge

Give up sitting dutifully at your desk. Leave
your house or apartment. Go out into the world.

It's all right to carry a notebook but a cheap
one is best, with pages the color of weak tea
and on the front a kitten or a space ship.

Avoid any enclosed space where more than
three people are wearing turtlenecks. Beware
any snow-covered chalet with deer tracks
across the muffled tennis courts.

Not surprisingly, libraries are a good place to write.
And the perfect place in a library is near an aisle
where a child a year or two old is playing as his
mother browses the ranks of the dead.

Often he will pull books from the bottom shelf.
The title, the author's name, the brooding photo
on the flap mean nothing. Red book on black, gray
book on brown, he builds a tower. And the higher
it gets, the wider he grins.

You who asked for advice, listen: When the tower
falls, be like that child. Laugh so loud everybody
in the world frowns and says, "Shhhh."

Then start again.

After Us

Connie Wanek

I don't know if we're in the beginning
or in the final stage.
-- Tomas Tranströmer

Rain is falling through the roof.
And all that prospered under the sun,
the books that opened in the morning
and closed at night, and all day
turned their pages to the light;

the sketches of boats and strong forearms
and clever faces, and of fields
and barns, and of a bowl of eggs,
and lying across the piano
the silver stick of a flute; everything

invented and imagined,
everything whispered and sung,
all silenced by cold rain.

The sky is the color of gravestones.
The rain tastes like salt, and rises
in the streets like a ruinous tide.
We spoke of millions, of billions of years.
We talked and talked.

Then a drop of rain fell
into the sound hole of the guitar, another
onto the unmade bed. And after us,
the rain will cease or it will go on falling,
even upon itself.

Publication Date

Franz Wright

One of the few pleasures of writing
is the thought of one’s book in the hands of a kind-hearted
intelligent person somewhere. I can’t remember what the
others are right now.
I just noticed that it is my own private

National I Hate Myself and Want to Die Day
(which means the next day I will love my life
and want to live forever). The forecast calls
for a cold night in Boston all morning

and all afternoon. They say
tomorrow will be just like today,
only different. I’m in the cemetery now
at the edge of town, how did I get here?

A sparrow limps past on its little bone crutch saying
I am Frederico Garcia Lorca
risen from the dead–
literature will lose, sunlight will win, don’t worry.

The Meadow

Kate Knapp Johnson

Half the day lost, staring
at this window. I wanted to know
just one true thing

about the soul, but I left thinking
for thought, and now -
two inches of snow have fallen

over the meadow. Where did I go,
how long was I out looking
for you?, who would never leave me,
my withness, my here.

She Didn't Mean to Do It

Daisy Fried

Oh, she was sad, oh, she was sad.
She didn't mean to do it.

Certain thrills stay tucked in your limbs,
go no further than your fingers, move your legs through their paces,
but no more. Certain thrills knock you flat
on your sheets on your bed in your room and you fade
and they fade. You falter and they're gone, gone, gone.
Certain thrills puff off you like smoke rings,
some like bell rings growing out, out, turning
brass, steel, gold, till the whole world's filled
with the gonging of your thrills.

But oh, she was sad, she was just sad, sad,
and she didn't mean to do it.

Article #2

Yoga enthusiasts pursue healthy living at no cost

Yoga instructor Gina MacKay (without mat) leads a Sunday morning yoga class at Lululemon in the Oakridge Centre Mall.

by Linnaea Kershaw

Langara students might be missing out on one of the best-kept secrets – a cheap and easy way to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Right down the street from Langara, Oakridge Mall boasts one of many Lululemons around the city that hold weekly classes for the low, low, price of “free ninety-nine”.

“We have so many connections to teachers because of the nature of our business,” said Kristin Lautrup, Lululemon’s community leader for the Oakridge store. “It allows us to run a whole bunch of classes that people are interested in and promote what we believe in as a company. A way to get people active and promote a healthy active lifestyle.”

There’s no need to sign in ahead of time, as the classes are all drop-in. This makes for a more comfortable, relaxed, and accessible atmosphere. Attendance for the yoga classes are usually between 10 to 20 people.
According to Lautrup, because Lululemon started as a yoga company, the yoga classes are better known but other classes are starting to become more popular as well. A run group, led by a local staffer, every Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m., is starting to grow in popularity.

If anyone has ideas for a session, they can bring them into the store and get put on the calendar as suggestions for future classes. Past classes have included a food workshop to inform the public on how to eat a balanced diet and a cleansing workshop to teach people who are looking to learn more about cleansing their bodies.

A class is going to be held on the Oct. 26 called a Financial Seminar, something never done before on the Lululemon calendar. In these economic times, Lautrup thinks it could be a valuable class for those that want more information on how to keep on top of their financial records.

For more information, people can go to the Oakridge Lululemon mini website, which can be reached from the main Lululemon site. They have a monthly calendar of events. They run a yoga class every Sunday from 9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. and have the running class on Wednesday nights at 6:30 p.m.

Article #1

Oh, and I forgot... my article... Second one down. Look for the name. :p Don't know what I think of it... Feels a bit rushed. And they cut out a lot because they thought it was too flowery but ah well. Good or bad that it's front page of the website?

But then, I'm not exactly ever happy with my baking either. haha.

http://www.langara.bc.ca/voice/

Idiocies of the Less than Coherent...

Yesterday was pretty hilarious. My lack of coherence added to the general tomfoolery. I'm impressed I didn't walk into a wall, really. Went to school, blah blah blah. Normal. Came home, did some cleaning up because Camille was coming over from Whistler and we were heading down to Gastowns, which I hadn't decided whether I was going to race or not.

Went to take the garbage outside, grabbing the keys from beside the front door. As I'm walking outside, I have this thought of, "Ha, wouldn't it be funny if the house keys weren't actually on this chain and I'm now locked out and Becky's already gone out to dinner and I don't have a phone or any way of getting back in..." Chuck the garbage out and look down at my hand and I'm actually holding just two bike lock keys.

Awesome. Just awesome.

As it turns out, Becky took the house keys off my extra set to give to her sister who's visiting. My own fault though really. I definitely think my instincts have been speaking up lately and I just catch on too late or ignore them completely then later think, "A ha! Thaaat's what you were talking about... Sheee-it..."

I almost sat down and cried - that's how great my day was going. After a few minutes of contemplating trying my hand at Parkour to get up on the back deck (Mitchell can do it and he's only, what, a foot taller than me? No sweat. :p), a guy comes down towards the garage and I beg him to let me in. Whew. Thank goodness. Meanwhile, Camille is out front calling my phone to get me to let him in. I tell him my sad story and he kinda just laughs at my sad state with a shake of his head. Yeah, I know... that's going to happen only once, trust me.

Get geared up and head out, returning to the house three times to pick up stuff I've forgotten. Idiot. Thinking we're going to be late, we hammer down to Gastown and find that we're early because everyone's on Vancouver time and don't show up til about 9. That was annoying in kind of a shrugging 'Why do I even bother' kind of way...

I'm humming and hawwing, wondering whether I should race sick, kind of knowing that I can still do it sick and probably still do well sick (that's how dismal the girls' side can be...sigh...), and end up signing up because there aren't enough girls to race a full bracket otherwise.

Strangely enough the bar was full of people I knew, half because most were friends I convinced to come/already were coming, and half because I'm starting to branch out and make new friends in the community (helping out with the race Friday, I take pictures of people and they get tagged on Facebook and therefore want to be my friend [at least on Facebook, haha] so they can see all the pictures). Kinda cool.

End up racing and beating the pants off some girls. :p I have this annoying habit of sitting up at the end of the race if I'm ahead, which I think probably looks awfully egotistical but I can't help it... usually it's because my hair's falling out and I need to fix it. haha.

I kinda do that til I hit the final against Louise, which is again a Roddick/Federer match of stepping onto the court and just having the thoughts of, "Shit. There's no way I'm winning this." Bad thoughts, I know. She's just got so much experience on me and bikes a heck of a lot more. The really unfortunate part this time was that my seatpost wasn't tight enough so it dropped halfway through the race so I was way too low. That sucked. I kinda wish it hadn't because I was doing alright. Ah well, next time. November's the last one so if OSAP comes through, I might have to invest in a wind trainer. :)

Now? Two stories to finish for Tuesday a.m. - One on the H1N1 hysteria at Langara, Second on the Lululemon free events. Meaning I have to go to yoga on Sunday. It's a tough life. :p

Pic du jour:

Aww yeah, cyclocross! I will upload the rest of the pictures, I swear! haha

Quote du Jour:

"Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders, than from the arguments of its opposers."

Next Stop, Stress City... Population? You.

So, it's been a bit of a week... Got my first story, became a camera gal for the first time, rode my first scooter (as a passenger...), watched some sweet cyclocross (and wanted to jump in with the SOMA, 20 mm slick tires and all haha.) dreamed of fixed gears... oh, and forgot all my assignments for school and therefore did them all Monday morning in class. Thank god my prof is very chill and recognizes the suck of starting school at 8:30 am...

Okay, first things first. My first story for Langara's paper, The Voice, was about puppies. That's right. Puppies. Well, kinda. It was about Charlie's Food Bank, a shelter-based program run out of Mission Possible, a shelter down on Powell St. that gives out food, kitty litter, toys, etc. It's actually a really cool idea and I've never heard of it before but it's brilliant. Talked to Kim Monteith at the SPCA, who is also a really cool woman, and headed down in the rain to take some pictures. Met a red pit bull/Great Dane mix named Bogatai who weighed more than I do at 154 lbs! He was a sweetie though, as was his owner, Ken Barker, who proceeded to tell me a story of Bogatai going after bears. Pretty cool. Finding a focus for the story was kind of hard... I wanted to talk about all of it and everyone! Taking pictures was cool but kind of hard. You need to ask permission to take people's pictures and I'm not so good at approaching people to get their picture.

Wednesday I had a bit of a night out - went down to Chill Winston's to have a drink with Moses and ended up daydreaming about bartending and/or serving again... I kind of miss it, I think? Working somewhere like the Chill Winston would be great because it would be busy but seems like a pretty good group of people. I've found myself daydreaming a lot lately of other people's lives... maybe I should just become an actress... or a spy. Ha. I think it's more stress related though - wanting to be somewhere else so you don't have to deal with where you are now and have to change and adapt to your present circumstances.

The Miele is now a singlespeed and I'm being pressured to convert it to a fixed gear but I think I love love love coasting a little too much to do so. Although it does have a flip flop hub that would allow for both and it would be something else for me to learn. Good for the brain connections. Haha. Let's be honest, I'll probably end up doing it at some point. Just to say I did. I have been dreaming of back tire skidding whenever I go down a hill or come up to a light...

Went to visit the Nana on the North Shore. She's now in a wheelchair and can't talk so mostly I just show up and read to her. It's a surprisingly short yet interesting trip over to visit her (seabus... yeah! Big ass hill up Lonsdale... no!) so I should really just make more time and do it more often. The North Shore is pretty cool, I'll give it that. Weird thing to happen though - as I was biking up, a camera guy jumped out and totally filmed me. Background for news? I dunno. Odd. Definitely odd.

First story done, second story? Lululemon free events! Yeah! I have to go to a yoga class. Love it. Also have to do a piece on Swine Flu. It's amazing how many freaking signs and spazz outs we have at school for it. There's hand sanitizer in all the classrooms, big signs on the doors... just so strange in an oversensitive way.

Sunday we did filming for the rando bike video the boys and I want to put together. I was definitely an awful camera gal as I don't know what they wanted and had trouble holding the camera steady.

This week went stressful right out of the gate but I think I have a handle on it now. I got most of my work done, got to go to Gastowns (second, again... sigh), doing a radio interview with Moses tomorrow night, getting stuff all done so I can have the weekend off.